Hal kept an eye on the strange vessel as the exo-suit silently glided down the exterior. Soon, however, Solar Array #7 poked over the short horizon of the circular station exterior. As he neared, a humongous form the size of a building seemed to approach from beyond the array. It reminded Hal of the bulbous algae he had seen in the synthetic aquariums, with their rolled-over thin film appearance. Only the looming “algae” appeared to be a deep indigo.
Hal forgot the term for it, but he knew how goddamn dangerous it was. He lowered both arms and had both claws grip at a railing. He began to sweat as the purple event closed the distance with obscene speed.
Hal managed to power down the entire suit just in time for the event to wash over him. Through the metal of the suit, Hal felt a tingling sensation- focused primarily around his synthetic vocal organs. He coughed as the irritation got worse with time. In lieu of the electromagnetic ball-wheels, the claws kept the exo-suit planted against the station exterior.
“Oh my god, this sucks,” Hal blathered as the light static continued to irritate him. He had experienced this before during normal work, and it sucked equally as much then. Normally, the passing ion clouds only made a person’s hair stand on-end, but Hal’s synthetic lungs and vocal organs burned with the mosquito nips of static.
Eventually, the event passed. By that time, Hal felt his entire body shivering. The first time it happened, he had two co-workers sandwich their own suits against his own to prevent the suit from drifting too far from the exterior for the ball-wheels to pull him back. Hal booted up the exo-suit and turned up the opacity of the heads-up display. His oxygen supply depleted rapidly from his coughing fits and deep breaths to regain his senses, but he knew his supply would easily outlast the power charge of the suit itself. Thankfully, the suit batteries were designed with shielding to prevent damage from those events when the suit was inactive.
Hal gripped at the controls. Though his grip felt weak, he was able to make the claws let go so he could continue onward. Within the next minute, he had reached the solar array. Hal examined the array for signs of damage that would be obvious to an amateur like him. He then switched on the radio. “Yo Paragon, I’m at the array. What exactly am I looking to fix here?”